St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-01-27
THE BOTTLE.

had no dislike to the taste of liquor.
Not that he was a drinking man. Oh,
dear, no! Never was drunk in his
life never even slightly overcome by
liquor. But still-well, still, every
now and then a nice glass of some
thing comfortable struck Tom in a
pleasant light, and he generally took
it when it did.
To night it was cold and chilly and
gloomy, and the wind ratified the shut
tiers, and crooned down the chimney
and made banshee of itself along the
street ; and Tom, who was not very
fond of reading, could not lose himself
in book or magazine, and there was no
one to talk to, and the resolution above
recorded seemed to be the most natur-
al thing in the world.
GA glass of something comfortable"
said Tom, "and biscuit, and then III
turn in"
Then Tom went to q closet to look
for a vessel in which to bring the nee
essary liquor for the comfortable
something" from the corner store, and
spied on the upper shelf a green bottle
with fat body and a long neck, which
had nothing in it, and smelt of nothing
and set it upon the table, while he stir
red the fire and put the kettle on, that
everything might be ready on his re-
turn.
Mrs. Tom was absent from home, and
Tom was keeping house for himself.
He was on his knees before the stove
raking it, when he heard Il grOan. 1t
was faint, far-away sounding grOan /;
but it had such a ghOstly sound that he
started.
"What's that9" he cried and some
thing answered.
"Only me-"
And jumping to his feet, Tom Barna
by stood staring about; for there was
nothing in the room that ought to have
had voice but himself-nOt even IL
kitten or IL canary bird.
''Wbo is me 2" cried Tom.
"Tom ought to know" said the
voice.
And this time Tom saw it came from
the green bottle.
Changed if it isn't the bottle !" said
Tom. ais it spirits, or whatR"
And the bottle answered:
ayes, worse luck. 1t is spirits. Bad
spirits, too. Gin, rum and brandy
whiskey and alcoholic
"Oh, that kind ~ said Tom.
Pve been possessed by them all. Years
and years they led me such life that
| wished | was smashed; years and
years until your wife got me and put
blessed vinegar in me. Nice, sharp,
respectable vinegar, that never did
worse than give some poor cabbage
eater the collie. And l thought l
should end my days as a decent vine
gar bottle, and here | am-gOing to
have one of the devils back, | know.
Oh, what did that dear woman go away
for9 Why did she go7"
Tom, who had grown used to the
phenomenon of talking bottle, and
did not mind it at all by this time,
nodded his head sagely.
bright there" he said. ats ex
ceedingly uncomfortable to have wife
away, but you are very foolish to talk
as YOU do. What harm is there in a
moderate drink All you'd hold
wouldn't harm fly. You've been
listening to teetotallers."
81 haven't been listening to any
body" said the bottle. "Pve formed
my own conclusions. There was a
time when | thought just as you do.
1t was when | was n bran new bottle,
with gilt label, Best Holland Gin
on me, and my owner, the liquor deal
er, took me out of my case and handed
me over to Jack Barker, who had just
finished painting the store.
"'Here, jack says he, 'this will
help you keep Christmas
""Thank ye,' said Jack and off |
went under his arm.
Sand there, in IA bright little room,
with pretty wife and nice old grand
father, and two cunning little babies
looking on, he opened me.
"'What a nice smell ! said she-the
pretty wife.
"And then he made some stuff with
lemon and sugar, and they all drank
some; and the babies looked at the
light shining through my green sides
and the gilt label on me. And the old
grandfather said the drink had gone to
his head, and he should have to be
carried upstairs, and they laughed at
that, because it was such a good joke.
al liked myself then and what was
in me.
"BefOre l was empty the first time |
felt pleased to be such a favOrite as
was.
"Ah, dear, l was filled up again, and
again, and again and after a while |
began to see things changing about
me. The wife's face was not so bright;
the old grandfather never laughed the
baby's toes were out; and one day
Jack staggered in, took me up, drank
the last drop from me, and tumbled in
to a chair. Thelwife began to cry.
"'Oh, Jackw says she. ooh, Jack
how | hate that dreadful bOttle We
were so happy before it came into the
hOuser"
''She blamed me, but knew it was
the evil spirit in me that she meant.
you've lost your place, Jack, said
she. Everything has changed. You
don't love me any more. You don't
care for the children. It's all that bot
tle.'
"But Jack was too tipsy to care
what she said. He staggered over to
the table, took me by the neck, and
carried me to liquor store. There
they put another devil into me. That
one drove the furniture out of the
house bit by bit it was pawned.
"Then they left the house itself and
were in a cellar somewhere. She took
in washing; some of the money she
earned went for more evil spirits to fill
me.
Didn't loathe myself One night
/ sat on the table and saw the old
grandfather lying dead and Jack drunk
on the floor ut the foot of the bed
Didn't | loathe myself4 l tried to
tOpple off, but | couldn't manage it.
If ever bottle did desire to smash it
self, did. But it was no use. Hap
py bottles, beautiful cut-glass cologne
bottles, innocent water bottles have
been broken when they most desired
to Last no dnnht hut L who had he